SOME NEWSPAPER HISTORY IN HAMILTON

Narrator: Eugene A. Martin, 81, Editor of Pattonsburg Call

Mr. Martin's father M. Clark Martin lived in the last house on the street running west between the James Kautz house and Hudson house. It was then out of town. Martin took it in a trade with Rev. Robert C. Hill for a farm near Cowgill 1869. Mr. E.A. Martin was reared in Hamilton and had his first training as a newspaper man here. He tells newspaper facts as he recalls them after a long life here and in Pattonsburg.

In 1867 or 68 Gabe Paxton and J.M. Gallemore established the Hamilton Investigator. It was located north of the railroad on Main Street. Paxton sold his interest to Bennett Whitely and he moved the plant to the "Baptist Chapel" so called, on the present Kingston Street east of the Park; this being the property of Whitely which was later used as a feedmill by M.M. Shellabarger and also was a High School. Early 1870 Whitely sold his interest to M.A. Low, and the name was changed to Hamilton News, while the plant was moved to a back room in the middle of the block on the east side of south Main where Low ran it for years. Later, he ran it with the help of (Doc) B.M. Dilley a rising young lawyer as local editor. Then M.A. Low's brother Eugene ran it till it was sold to J.E. Hitt and John Marens. In the later seventies Hitt and Gus Chapman began a second paper, the Hamilton Graphic, but Chapman sold out to John Marens and the Hitt-Marens firm bought the News from Eugene Low and News-Graphic was born. The Marens ran it alone till late in the nineties in the building on west side of South Main, the old Graphic office.

In 1878 W.A. Morton (brother of John and Marcus) established a third paper the Hamiltonian, upstairs above the Post Office site then, east side of South Main. He afterwards moved it to the new Morton Building west side of North Main (Citizens Trust Company site) who sold it to Wilbur Clark. Clark brought it back to the south side - the present Clark Building and sold out later to Roy McCoy who sold it to another party. Finally a few years ago, it became combined with the News-Graphic which thus meant three papers. But the present one, Hamilton paper really means four papers, for the word Advocate in its title. About 1890 James Barnhill started a Populist or farmers movement paper calling it Farmer's Advocate. He sold it to Al Filson. It ran in the basement of the present Post Office building. Filson bought the News-Graphic of Marens and combined his papers in the News-Graphic site. He sold it to Prof. Holman and Cliff Ridings who eventually became sole owner and now has run it thirty four years.